CASTRO VALLEY – The body of a 38-year-old man who walked away from a board-and-care facility in Hayward last week was discovered floating in a creek on Friday, authorities said.

Luke Sylvester, who on March 18 was reported missing by staff members at God’s Grace Care home at 629 Hampton Road in Hayward, was found partially submerged in the rapidly flowing waters of Crow Creek, said Lt. William Gaudinier, spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.

A cause of death will not be determined until the coroner’s office completes its autopsy next week, but Gaudinier said it didn’t appear the man was the victim of foul play.

Nor were there any signs that he might have been struck by a vehicle while walking along the Crow Canyon Road, he said.
“The body appears to have been submerged in the water for some time,” Gaudinier said. “We’re not ruling it (foul play) out. We’re just saying that there were no outward signs of foul play.”

Gaudinier said a trucker who was driving along Crow Canyon Road while en route to San Ramon from Castro Valley called the sheriff’s department at 1:07 p.m. after spotting a body lying in the creek near a ravine about 20 feet below Crow Canyon Road, about a quarter-mile north of Cold Water Drive.

“The man happened to glance down the ravine and spotted the body,” Gaudinier said. “You couldn’t see it from a car. You had to see it from a truck.”

Deputies arrived at the scene, but were forced to call a heavy-rescue team from the Alameda County Fire Department to recover Sylvester’s partially-clothed body because the slope was too step to traverse.

Gaudinier said investigators recovered a wallet and paper, and later confirmed Sylvester’s identification from his fingerprints. Gaudinier did not know where exactly the man lived before his family placed him into the board-and-care facility on March 11, but a woman who identified herself as Sylvester’s sister-in-law said he resided in Martinez.

The sister-in-law, Lisa Perrata, told The Daily Review shortly before the man’s body was identified by authorities that family members were planning to comb the marina area in San Leandro with search dogs after receiving reports that he had been seen in the area.

Perrata said Sylvester suffered a serious brain injury at his Martinez home seven months ago and was hospitalized for three or four months.

As a result of the injury, Sylvester suffered frequent seizures and short-term memory loss. Authorities said he was easily disoriented and was in need of constant medication.

Before disappearing from the board-and-care facility, staffers said, Sylvester indicated that he wanted to leave and return to his mother’s home in Lafayette.

Gaudinier said it was not known whether Sylvester was trying to reach his mother’s home while walking on the winding roadway.

Ricci Graham can be reached at (510) 293-2469 or at rgraham@dailyreviewonline.com.